Popped Tire - Accident?

I would be very surprised if a popped tire caused you to lose your job. It happens sometimes. Even with a proper pre-trip it can be difficult to impossible to tell if a tire is going bad or not. It certainly should not be considered an accident unless you hitting something caused it to happen. Best wishes to you!

 

they very well may say that was a preventable accident, you failed to negotiate that turn.

you cannot use the reason it had been done by others before, to save your skin,

i cannot see another company denying you a job over this, IF you do get fired.

 

I don't know how strict UPS is but even if this causes you to lose your job I am sure there are lots of companies out there that will hire you. I know it is frustrating when something like this happens but things like this have happened to all of us and you just have to keep your chin up, learn from it, and keep on truckin'.

 

what i mean is, you cannot tell the safety guy/gal, that others "do it all the time too"....

safety could care less about the others.

if you are not in the union yet, they can let you go. if you are in the union, the union can help keep you there.

keep us up to date.

 

Ive had tires go BOOM. And Ive popped tires. It becomes a shop manager problem to put a replacement on.

Just don't ask me where those tires got popped. =)

Most companies are not particular about tires. Long ago if you popped it and the owner could prove it using the damage of the tire against you in the shop it sometimes came out of your check. It's not a firing.

Now once I had number two suffer a zipper failure on the interstate, the entire tread unwrapped like instantly and explosively flew up. Where it was going was directly at a minivan with kids in it on 95 south in VA near doswell. I had swung my trailer over pretty hard to make the tire hit it and bounce into median rather than hit the van. Of Course the people called boss and complained of crazy trucker swerving around near them but when boss heard what I had to say combined with the bill for a new tire on number two well.. that pretty much settles that problem.

Baltimore might still have something on hydrants and such. Sometimes they were closer to the curb and you hook em with the trailer. Well that's a preventable and most companies will take the damage out of your pay but not fire you for it. Mine at the time dropped a spare on there off my catwalk and called it ok. This time. FD came out and secured that hydrant so all around it's done and done.

What I usually do instead of tearing a tire is break stuff that costs a bit more money in damages and becomes a story to be explained as a accident to the next employer. There was 20 foot of green curbing made just that morning which failed under my spread axle in Sayre at the VA there. The losses totaled around 900 dollars. Company got involved for sure on that one. It preceded a two hour shouting match with foreman that spread trailer wont get into that lot from that street the way he wanted it. I might have tried it with the opposite lane across the divider and through the river of cars on the right with police help. However Chief already was not in the mood to deal with me for a different reason related again to that particular problem.

It only took a couple of years before having to explain the 900 in damages to go away.

I once had a bomb on 83 at the PA Md Line rest area southbound (It's on the NB side prior to the line.) and it took out not only the one dual on the left first drives but also it's other dual on that same wheel. I let road service come out because the container was military and pretty heavy. I was not to fool with the old spoked wheels in those days putting on a spare with my backside hanging out into 80 mph Sb traffic. Police set up ahead of me and caught a few customers that day in the old 55 mph days. A lesson don't cross a interstate on foot if you ever have to. Not for a phone call. This was pre satellite and cell days. (I had to cross 270 twice in my life time at the top of the rush, some trucker called me a rabbit that was not something I wanted to carry for a handle in those days for a break down.)

Lesson here. Hit something and it's either built or places at that spot? It's preventable. With a high enough damage amount or a second or third offense of such you will be fired. And that's that. If you had a very good reason like we did once in a Home Depot in Conn, getting trapped and attempting a tight circle taking out 10K in inventory... that's a real big deal. What's worse was manager did nothing that day anywhere outside the store. (We had nursery flowers which required two plus forklift on a sat. Had to return on a sun, this time under the protection of the store staff. So that particular wreck was good for a change that I hope is pernament. 10K was a minor amount of damage versus oh... 50 cars that would all have been scraped if we tried to get out the other way so.. it's one of those ###### if you do and ###### if you dont? throw the dice and hope to hit nothing.

 

not entirely true.

back in the mid 70's there was an LTL company here, Taylor/Taylor.

they had a race car, and a full set up rig.

i know, i applied for the job, of scooting thier race car wherever, and was told straight up, "you damage a tire, you're fired, you're supposed to be THE professional".

they are no longer in business, but i still am. and that's ONE job interview, i'll never forget being told that.

 

Most Union jobs that I ever worked for...an accident is considered anything over $500 worth of damage. A popped tire and bent rim will most likely go over that $500 limit. But in your situation...UPSF new that they hired someone who was green...so they MAY bend the rules a bit for you.

The only person who can really answer your questions will be your shop steward. He will most likely know what to do. Give him a call and see what he has to say.